Keystone Chronicles Book 2: The Keytus Gene
by OMNISENSE95
Summary: Ashura now moves his sights to the Pokemon world, where the next keystone lies. But when a certain gene activates in Ash's body, will Ashura's newly revealed powers be enough to prevent the hero's victory? Has body switching in it.
1. Impossible Changes

**Good Evening. Welcome to Keystone Chronicles, installment #2. For those of you who did not read installment #1, I recommend you do so now. Like with the previous installment, each chapter will be told from the POV of different characters. Here, we will start, with Ash's POV. Which reminds me, I have to tell you the character ages and parties of the Canonical Pokémon Characters. I will start with the three that will appear in this chapter. They are as follows:**

**Ash: 15 Party (On hand at beginning of chapter): Pikachu, Zekrom, Samurott, Emboar, Serperior, Scrafty. (Waiting for him at Professor Oak's with the rest of his Pokémon): Unfezant, Leavanny, Seismitoad, Gigalith, Escavalier, Beheeyem, Golurk. (If this was canon, the guy would officially be training at least one of every type now.)**

**Iris: 18 Party: Fraxure, Excadrill, Emolga, Accelgor, Hydreigon. **

**Cilan: 20 Party: Pansage, Crustle, Stunfisk, Larvesta, Scoutland, Braviary.**

**For the heck of it, I will include Jessie and James's stats as well. Just to prevent confusion, you should know that in this timeline, after the fall of Team Plasma, Jessie and James realized exactly how much their Pokémon meant to them. This lead them to file their resignations to Giovanni, so they and Meowth formed their own group called Team Fission. Anyway, the duo's statistics are as follows:**

**Jessie: 27 Party: Swoobat, Seviper, Wobbufet, Yanmega.**

**James: 27 Party: Cofagrigus, Ferrothorn, Mime Jr. (His Carnivine found love, much like Victreebel before it)**

**Now that all that is out of the way, ON WITH THE SHOW!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

**Impossible Changes**

I was standing alone on this barren path that seemed to stretch on for eternity. The sky above was as black as Zekrom, if not darker. My pokéballs were missing for some reason. I called out for Pikachu, Iris, Cilan, anyone, but no one answered. Deciding anything would be better than standing around here, I began walking down the path until I came to this titanic castle, with possibly the most screwed up architecture I have seen in my entire life. The color scheme was mainly white and this tealish green. As I approached the castle's front doors, I noticed a memo nailed to the left hand door. I tore the note off, and read the poem written on it;

Whomever steps within these walls,

A slow and cruel oblivion calls.

For should you enter, you'll lose your way,

And never again see the light of day.

Well, that is sure a cheery thought. With nowhere else to go, I ignored the warning and opened the doors of the castle. (A/N: Cue Castle Oblivion background music) Inside, I found myself in this white hallway leading to a door on a raised platform at the end. Before I could approach, I heard laughter similar to what I heard before. I turned around and saw this green hedgehog-like creature, utilizing this puppet that looked alarmingly like Tracey. Behind him, I saw an unconscious Tracey, holding a second puppet that looked like the green hedgehog. The hedgehog manipulated the Tracey puppet so that it began charging this weird dark energy in its mouth. As it was about to fire-

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><p>A sudden shock woke me up without a minute's delay. I sat up in the bed to see Pikachu, with sparks still flying from his cheeks, and Iris chuckling heartily near the doorway, Fraxure standing at her side.<p>

"Somehow I knew it would take that to wake you up," she sarcastically remarked. I glared at her for several seconds. "You should head over to the bathroom and change. We're heading out as soon as you're ready." I eagerly followed her instructions, my pants feeling incredibly constrictive for some odd reason.

At any rate, since the Unova league is over, I decided to head back home to Pallet Town, and consider what journey would await me next. Iris and Cilan wanted to come along, hoping to see the kinds of Pokémon that lived in Kanto, which were pretty much non-existent in Unova. Everyone's reaction to seeing Pikachu was direct prove of this.

Anyway, after entering the bathroom, I took off my pajamas, removing my pants and boxers last. As I did, I wondered why the heck my pants felt so restraining. I got my answer as I caught my reflection in the mirror. Taking a look behind me to make sure my eyes were not playing tricks on me, I screamed so loudly I was certain you could hear it from the Indigo Plateau.

I was freaking out right then. I HAD GROWN A DANG TAIL OVERNIGHT! The tail was about 2 meters long, covered in orange fur, and ended in this white tuft that formed a symbol that looked like a square heart with this twinkle at the bottom point.

Beginning to panic, I grabbed my new tail and pulled on it, hoping that I was just imagining this. Unfortunately for me, the resulting pain revealed that this was real. I released my tail, and my mind began swimming around at high speeds. I had this long, cat-like tail sticking out of my butt. What the heck is happening to me? For all I know, I could be turning into a Pokémon again, but this time around I have no clue what Pokémon it's supposed to be!

Further more, how will Iris and Cilan react if they saw it? Well, Cilan would just freak out at this impossible development, Iris's "sixth sense" would act up, and Pikachu… well, he probably would just show mild concern for me, and not much else. I soon decided that I will just have to get used to having this extra appendage, and pulled a pair of scissors from my bag. Using them, I cut a small slit in my pants for my tail, did the same for the fresh boxers, and put on the rest of my clothes.

Pikachu was still waiting outside the bathroom door, and when I left the room, he eagerly took his usual place on my shoulder, not even noticing my new tail. I noticed it swaying slightly on its own, much like a cat's. I sighed, and walked outside, where Iris and Cilan were waiting for me.

"Ah, good morning Ash," Cilan greeted. "I believe now would be the time to…" He did not finish his sentence as he and Iris noticed the tail emitting from my rear end. They just stood there staring at it for a good 30 seconds until, as if on cue, they screamed at the top of their lungs.

"ASH! WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE!" Cilan screamed. "I honestly don't know. I just woke up like this." In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have been so calm about this. "The scent of mystery wafts across the air at this unusual development. We must find out why this happened to our good friend and how." The rising connoisseur stated boldly. Iris examined my tail thoughtfully, as if the sight of it reminded her of something, but she couldn't remember exactly what.

"Okay, where have I heard of this before…?" She questioned, confirming my earlier theory. "This seems familiar somehow… Augh, it's on the tip of my tongue… Oh, of course! The Keytus Gene!"

"The what?" I asked no one in particular.

"Wait… I thought that was just a legend," I heard Cilan mumble under his breath. "But that would mean…" He looked at Iris, and she had the same look of realization as him. Even Fraxure looked somewhat scarred. I began to feel extremely left out.

"Will someone please tell me why we're all suddenly terrified!" I demanded. Iris and Cilan looked at me guiltily, then glanced at each other.

"I think we should move out before we do any explaining," Iris said. "I would prefer we leave before a crowd begins to gather."

"Agreed," Cilan and I said in unison. With that, we began walking down the path towards the port where we would catch a plane to Kanto.

"Well, according to legend, this visitor from another world came to this one several millennia ago to hide something of immense importance," Iris began her explanation. "To help shield it, he artificially created this gene, and implemented it into a random human being here. If someone should emerge who seeks to misuse this artifact's power, the gene would activate, transforming the carrier into this ridiculously overpowered Pokémon called a Keytus." Okay, so this guy was willing to rob someone of their humanity to protect who knows what? "Only one person at a time can carry the gene. If the carrier dies without reproducing at least once in his lifetime, the gene will just re-emerge in a child born that same day, or the day afterward. From what I remember, the Pokémon held closest to the carrier's heart, their Premium Brand, as a connoisseur would call it, is supposed to undergo some sort of transformation as well." At this, I felt Pikachu stiffen slightly, and I gently scratched his head, noticing that white fur had begun to grow on my hands.

"Okay, so I have this gene inside me that is transforming me into a Pokémon again, is that the gist of it?" I asked. "Yep that's it in a- wait…" Cilan proceeded to answer until he realized I had used the word "again" in that sentence. "Are you saying something similar to this has happened to you before?"

"Well, when I was traveling through Jhoto, I met this witch named Lily, and I helped her finish this potion that promised to help humans understand Pokémon. The potion did achieve this, but not in the way I expected." I clarified. "Let me guess. You were turned into a Pikachu, right?" Iris asked. I nodded in response. "Though it wore off after about a day. That reminds me, exactly how long is the transformation from this gene supposed to last?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Ash, but from what I remember of the legend, it's permanent," Cilan answered. I stared at him blankly for several tense seconds.

"!" I screamed. "I'm going to be a Pokémon for the rest of my life!"

"Well, if you want to savor your remaining humanity, I would keep my mouth shut." Iris stated.

"Why?" I asked. I saw Iris move her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. "What was that?" She clearly repeated what she said, but I still didn't hear her.

In fact, I didn't hear anything for several seconds. I felt near my head and noticed that my ears were missing. I had this feeling of something pushing at my scalp, and immediately sound returned with this loud burst. I removed my hat, and felt to around my scalp to find two fox-like ears sitting on top of my head. It is really going far here, isn't it? I quickly cut some holes in my hat for my new ears, and placed it back on my head. "Now, what were you saying before, Iris?" I asked her.

"Every time you acknowledge the transformation, you accelerate it exponentially." She answered.

I only stared at her in shock. Soon afterward, I felt a pair of bulges form on my back. (A/N: Gee, wonder what those are for? Sarcasm)

"You're telling me that I can't even say 'I'm turning into this crazy overpowered Pokémon' without making it hap**pen faster?"** I questioned. Iris, Cilan, and Fraxure just stared at me, the humans bearing signs of confusion on their faces, the dragon indications of understanding. It then hit me that I had said the last three syllables in Pokéspeak, hence the bolded text. **"Great. Now I can't talk." **I muttered to no one.

In that instant, the remainder of the transformation occurred in an instant. I clutched my body in pain, hastily removing my jacket and shirt as this light began to emit from my chest. This light soon broke away, then instantaneously forced itself into Pikachu. I heard him scream out in pain, but I could not see exactly what was happening to him. The fur grew over the rest of my body, white at the hands and feet, black at the face, yellow at the arms and legs, and red at the torso. My feet change to digitigrade paws, with the rest of my legs changing accordingly. My hands, while still maintaining a human shape, also took on paw-like qualities. I felt my face push outward, forming this short muzzle. I quickly removed my pants as the fur there began to thicken, forming a natural pair of jeans. MY torso became slightly more toned, though not enough to be considered a body-builder's. Lastly, this gigantic key materialized in my right hand in a flash of light. The shaft was formed from what resembled a Charizard's tail. The handguard's left half looked like a Muk's sludge, while the right half reminded me of a Buizel's tails. The chain was actually a Sceptile's tail, with a Pokéball charm as the token at the end. The teeth resembled a Pikachu's tail. I felt a name flow through my mind; Bonds of the Trainer. Then it was over. I was a full Keytus. The only things that indicated it was me were the marks under my eyes, my eyes, and the hat that still rested on my head.

I risked a glance at Pikachu, and saw what became of him. While I became more of a Pokémon, Pikachu's transformation went in the opposite direction. He became more human. He was now a boy of about my age with short blonde hair, and unusually, Pikachu ears, and a tail to match. He was wearing this black jacket decorated with bolts of lightning, blue jeans, a yellow t-shirt, and shoes that vaguely resembled mine. In his hand was this key formed from this Pikachu motif with the ears forming the teeth. Chu's Fury. He stared at himself for a fifty tense seconds, then turned his attention to me, looking me over as well.

"It's done, then." Was all he could let out, disturbed that he had said that in English. "I'm afraid so," Cilan responded. The keys Pikachu and I were holding vanished in this flash of light, but I had the feeling we could summon them when needed. I slowly got up, wobbling slightly on my new feet, but Pikachu was able to help steady me. **"Well, I guess getting a plane ticket is out of the question now, huh?" **I jokingly stated. Predictably, only Pikachu and Fraxure showed any signs that they understood what I said.

"You know, you are capable of telepathy, right?" Iris informed me.

"_Great. Would have been incredible to know that sooner, Iris." _I responded to her, obviously through telepathy. She simply glared at me for a while.

"Say, maybe we should have Zekrom fly us over to Kanto?" Cilan suggested for no reason but to break the tension. I considered it, but doubted that he would be able to carry three people plus a pair of Pokémon. I still had my belt on me, so that was covered. But I did not think all of us would be able to fit on Zekrom's back. Emolga isn't big enough to carry any of us, and Larvesta is not capable of flight yet. However, while each of us had a decent flying Pokémon, I doubted that all of them had the stamina needed to fly all the way to Kanto. However, Iris and Cilan read my expression, and decided that each of us would use our flyers to head over to Kanto. We grabbed the Pokéballs that held our flyers, and released the Pokémon inside.

"Hydreigon, I need you now!"

"Braviary, It's travel time!"

"_Zekrom, I choose you!"_

In a flash, the three pokemon were there, and after relaying the situation to them, we were on our way to Kanto, Iris and Fraxure on Hydreigon, Cilan riding Braviary, and me and Pikachu riding Zekrom. However, I could not foresee the problems we would face when we arrived.

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><p><strong>I will end it here. I originally planned for the entire group to ride Zekrom, but when I brought its size into account, I decided it would be a little easier for the trainers to each have their own flying Pokémon. Now, submit your reviews, please.<strong>


	2. Dark Heart Theft

**Welcome back. And I am insulted. Only two people reviewed this, no one favorited this story, and no one subscribed it to story alert. Here, only those who have subscribed me on their author alerts will know when I update this. Now, Review this time, or I will track you down and kill you in your sleep. Actually, I'll just play Glee's "Light Up the World" at an ear-splitting volume, waking up everyone in your neighborhood, and getting you arrested for public disturbance. Anyway, this chapter will be told from the POV of Tracey Sketchit. I did spell his last name correctly, right? Anyway, before we begin, here are Tracey's statistics:**

**Age: 17 Party: Scizor, Venomoth, Azumaril**

**And let this begin:**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**Dark Heart Theft**

It was a nice peaceful day in the forest around the lab. A couple days ago, Ash had given Delilah a call, telling her that in the Unova League, he had reached the finals, but lost to this guy named N Harmonia. Who the heck would name their kid "N"?

I was interrupted from my thoughts when I heard this rustling in a nearby bush. Quickly bringing out my sketchbook, I got ready to observe whatever came out. What emerged was unlike any Pokémon I had ever seen. It looked like this green, anthropomorphic hedgehog with black tufts in its quills, wearing shoes and gloves. I was about to begin drawing it when I heard it say something: "There is no need for that my good man."

I stared at it in shock. I could now guess that this probably was not a Pokémon. It-er, HE grinned at me evilly, and I cringed at the look.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Tracey Sketchit. My name is Ashura the Hedgehog." I was seriously starting to get creped out now. How did he know my name? And further more, what right does this clearly evilly, black-eyed animal have to share a name with a bold, caring, and valiant trainer like Ash Ketchum?

"What do you want, ASH?" I asked him, the name dripping with venom. "Please, no shortening of the name. There is something here that I need. And you can help me get it."

"I would never help some hardened criminal like you! Scizor, I call on you!" I yelled at him, at the same time allowing my armored insect to escape his ball, and enter a battle-ready stance. Ashura only grinned at the bug before him, and made this hand gesture that clearly said "Bring it on, loser."

"Okay, if that's the way you want it," I said to him. "Scizor, use X-Scissor!" Scizor's hands began to glow, and he rushed Ashura, crossing them, and sending him flying in the opposite direction. I continued directing attacks at him, until it got to the point where he was to hurt to stand up. Oddly, it was not until now that I realized something. Why didn't he defend himself? He has a sword right there on his hip! With that, he could probably have knocked Scizor out in one swipe. So why didn't he?

Despite his injuries, he was actually laughing. I found this as yet another weird thing about him. "Thank you for your help, Sketchit." (A/N: Okay, someone please tell me if I'm spelling the name wrong) I was now completely confused. All I did was get him brutally wounded. Why is he thanking me? "Thanks to your armored bug, I am in the perfect condition to use my unique power."

"Unique power?" I asked him fearfully.

"The Dark Heart Theft. It only works if I am severely wounded in battle. Allow me to demonstrate," He responded. With that, he tossed that scabbard at his hip in between the two of use, and levitated off of the ground. He positioned himself upright, and I saw this sinister dark energy gather at his chest. His black, uncaring eyes pierced my soul, and in an instant, the energy released I a beam of darkness.

"Scizor, use Protect!" I ordered, but this proved unnecessary, as the beam went right past Scizor, and was heading right for… ME!

The beam hit me square in the chest, and I felt like hell had been unleashed upon my heart. My eyes snapped shut, and my body began to ache all over. It was unbearable. Every inch of me screamed in pain, and then suddenly, I knew that the attack was over, and I dropped to the ground in an aching heap. Strangely, I did not feel myself get lifted off the ground, as I had felt like I dropped from a height of ten feet.

I heard Ashura's cold laughter, and I gritted my teeth in anger at the sound. I slowly opened my eyes to glare at…me?

It was completely unnatural. I was seeing someone who looked like me standing there, but he was laughing like that Ashura person. When he stopped, and looked at me, I saw that he had the same black eyes as that hedgehog. "I appreciate the aid, Sketchit." HE said in a voice that was definitely Ashura's.

Scizor was looking between me and the look-alike in confusion, and I wondered what the heck had him so confused. "What the heck… did you… do?" I asked, still receding from the pain.

My double just laughed in response. "IF you want your answer, just look at your hand." I did so, but could not believe what I saw. It was not my hand I saw, but a gloved hand that bared alarming resemblance to…

"Impossible…" I muttered as I looked over the rest of my body. Actually it wasn't mine. It was Ashura's. He made me trade bodies with him. I looked at Ashura in anger, and just tossed my sketchbook and Pokéballs at my… his feet, as he walked over and picked his scabbard up from the grass between us.

"What… do you… gain from…" I began to ask, but Ashura answered before I could finish.

"There is sure to be some data that could lead me to what I want in that lab. And do you know how convenient it would be if a certain someone where to go in and acquire it?" He said. "By the way, there is a telepathic link between these two bodies for as long as the theft is in place. I can see whatever it is you're doing, and you can enjoy front row seats to everything I do."

"What… do you have to gain… from making me watch… what you use… my body for?" I asked the body stealer.

"Nothing. I just want to enjoy your misery as much as possible." With that, he leapt away faster than I should be able to manage.

"WAIT! You can't just leave me like this!" I screamed after him. I tried to stand Ashura's battered body up, but the fatigue was too great. Scizor helped me to Ashura's feet, and carried me over to a nearby tree to lean against.

"Thanks, Scizor." I said to my Pokémon. It retrieved the rest of my stuff that Ashura left behind. I could only think about what I should do. Ashura was using my body to further his own goals. The professor is not observant enough to be able to notice the difference in the eye color, although Mrs. Ketchum might be able to notice it. If I tried to head over to the lab, Ashura would know I'm coming. But I had to risk it. Using Scizor as support, I slowly limped out of the forest. I sent Venomoth ahead to warn the Pokémon in the corral about the danger.

As I was exiting the forest three hours later, and saw that I was a good distance away from the lab, I saw this huge shadow pass over the field. Scizor and I looked up to see what looked like a huge black dragon with this turbine tail fly overhead, in the direction of the lab.

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><p><strong>And here is where we leave off. You can probably guess what the dragon was, right? Now this time, do not be afraid to review.<strong>


	3. Time Constraints

**Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! Come ON People! I created a poll to see what you people wanted to see next in the series, and almost no one is voting! As for the poll, it is a blind poll, and I will leave it open until this story is completed. Unless you don't care about how the story progresses from this point, Vote on the poll on my profile!**

**Anyway, this next chapter will contain the POV of Misty Waterflower. I will warn you now, there may be minor pokeshipping in this chapter. Anyway, here are the ages and parties of the trainers that appear in this chapter:**

**Misty: 15 Party: Azuril, Gyarados, Starmie, Golduck, Corsola, Politoed (By the way, she is in her HG/SS outfit here)**

**Dawn: 14 Party: Piplup, Mamoswine, Lopunny, Togekiss, Quilava, Pachirisu (What? I had to include her, she is a really nice character.)**

**That should be it. Since that is out of the way, on with the Show!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**Time Constraints**

**(Play Opening Theme: Light Up the World by the cast of Glee)**

I walked down the path leading to Professor Oak's lab, wanting to see some of the exotic Pokémon Ash had captured in Unova. While I was heading there, I met Dawn Berlitz, a young coordinator Ash had traveled with in Sinnoh, and invited her to come with me. She seems like a sweet person, and I especially like how she had chosen a Water type as her starter. Ahhhhhhh….. the loving caress of the water against one's body when swimming… the gentle feel of the salt water in the boundless sea… the-

"MISTY!" Dawn screamed, snapping me out of my trance. "We're there." I looked forward to the lab, looming like a grand citadel on a lone island. I know that was a little exaggerated, but it was the only analogy I could think of. Well, at least the only one the author came up with.

I was about to knock on the door to the lab when I heard this loud crash behind me and Dawn, like something heavy had hit the ground. We both spun around on the spot to see this huge black dragon with ruby red eyes, this tail that reminded me of an electrical turbine, and bulky limbs. Riding on its back was this blonde haired boy who seemed somehow familiar, and this weird Pokémon that seemed somewhat canine, with fur of varying colors across its body. Quickly following suit was this smaller, three-headed dragon, and this ferocious looking bird, both of which had their own riders.

One of them was this girl with thick violet hair, who was accompanied by this dinosaur like Pokémon, and the other was this green haired man dressed as a waiter for some fancy restaurant. All of them dismounted their Pokémon, the canine thing wobbling on its feet for some reason, and recalled them. Dawn and I just stood there, staring at these new arrivals, and I wondered why the blonde boy and whatever that Pokémon is looked so familiar.

Around this time, the blonde boy noticed us, and ran over to us with this look of happiness in his face.

"Misty! Dawn! Great to see you two again!" He practically yelled at us. I only stared at him blankly. Now I was sure I had met him somewhere before, but he didn't look all that familiar to me. Maybe I had battled him at the gym one time? That wouldn't explain how he knew Dawn, however. It was right about then that I noticed that the boy had Pikachu ears instead of normal human ones. How the heck did I not notice that? You'd think that something as unnatural as a human with Pokémon ears would leap out at you like a wolf on its prey.

Something clicked in my mind, and I suddenly recognized the boy.

"Pikachu?" I asked cautiously, as this is something so ridiculous it could not be true. To my utter amazement, however, the boy nodded his head in response, confirming my answer.

"How the heck are you human? And where's Ash?" I asked fearfully. If something had happened to that guy, I might not make it. Not that I have… Feelings for him… or anything… he still owes me for my bike. Yeah, he still owes me for my bicycle. (A/N: It is so obvious that she has feelings for the guy) Shut it, Esser!

I noticed the weird Pokémon I couldn't identify walking up the stairway after the humanized mouse, with the other two humans following behind him. How I knew it was male, I have no idea. It was right about that time that I noticed that he had the same eye color as Ash, had the same lightning bolt marks as him, had tufts of fur on his head that reminded me of Ash's spiky hair, and was even wearing a hat similar to his!

The realization hit me like an avalanche of bricks, and I did the only thing that could possibly express the ridiculous shock I was feeling: I fainted.

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><p>I awoke a while later to the sound of Dawn's voice calling out to me.<p>

"Oh, that was a weird dream," I muttered to her. She looked at me with concern written across her face.

"Uh, hate to break this to you, but that wasn't a dream," she responded to me. "You were out for about five minutes." Wait, I was seriously out for five minutes? I glanced out the window to see Ash and Pikachu having a conversation with all of the Pokémon Ash had ever caught, minus twenty nine of his thirty Tauros. Dawn and I joined the others outside, and after an exchange of introductions, and an explanation on why Ash is this Pokémon I've never seen before, and why Pikachu is now mostly human, I began to wonder; What evil force could possibly be after whatever this visitor hid in this world?

I took my mind off of it long enough to see Tracey walk up to us, but there was something off about him. Since when were his eyes that dead black color? I was about to shrug it off as colored contacts until I noticed his shadow. It wasn't human, more like this anthropomorphic hedgehog-like thing.

"Good morning, Missy!" He called in an obviously disguised voice that made the fact that he got my name wrong unnecessary to determine that this was not Tracey Sketchit.

"You know, whoever you are, you really bad at impersonating other people." I said calmly and monotonously to this imposter. I'm serious, he was so bad at this, and besides, not even Ash (who was just thick to anything), Dawn, Iris, or Cilan (all of whom had never even met Tracey before, let alone get to know him) were fooled by his short act. "What are you talking about, Miley? You know I…"

"Okay, first of all, my name is MISTY!" I interrupted him. "Second, I know that Tracey does not have black eyes. Lastly, he does not cast a shadow like that." He looked at his shadow for what was maybe the first time, and groaned in irritation, discarding the disguised voice.

"You are quite the observant young woman, aren't you?" He asked rhetorically. I let a hand drift down to my belt of Pokéballs, and I could tell that Dawn, Iris, and Cilan have all done the same. The Tracey imposter reached down to this scabbard I failed to notice until then.

"But that quality will ultimately cost you and your dear friends their lives." His voice leaked venom at that statement. His hand rested on the hilt of some sword that looked like it was composed entirely of white crystal except for this token at the end of a chain, which held an image of a star with these two discs of light gyrating around it. He seemed ready to slice us, but something caught his attention and, with reflexes that seemed inhuman, swiftly pulled out the sword, which I could now see resembled this giant key, and cleanly cut a robotic arm that was about to fly past him in two.

"Excellent," I heard him mutter sarcastically. "Now, who do I have to blame for this intrusion?"

"'_Who to blame?' is the question, so vile indeed." _A sickeningly familiar feminine voice called out.

"_The answer to come as we feel the need." _A deeper, but still somewhat feminine voice joined in.

"_Bringing the blinding white light of redemption into the future!"_

"_Thrusting the hammer of justice onto the black darkness of the universe!"_

"_Carving our names in the Rock of Eternity!"_ A third, scratchy voice called in a New York accent.

"_The Fiery Destroyer, Jessie," _the red haired woman revealed herself to everyone present.

"_With Thunderous Emotion, I am James." _Her blue-haired partner in crime appeared beside her.

"_Wisest of the Wise, Meowth's the name!" _The talking cat made his presence known here.

"_Now all gather, In the Name of Team Fission!"_

"_WOOOBEFET!"_

"_MIIIIME, MIME MIME!"_

"Yeah, when a trio of complete strangers appears from behind, people tend to expect a challenge, not long-winded poetry." The faker stated, completely unimpressed. Jessie clearly did not take kindly to that statement.

"LONG-WINDED!" She screamed at him. "Do you know how much effort we put into writing those things! At least the author had the motivation to look-up the Unova motto so that he could modify it to fit in this continuity!"

"Oh, and by the way, we know who you really are, Ashura," James added. The imposter flinched at that last word, so that must definitely be his name. Ashura… HOW DARE HE SHARE A SIMILARITY IN NAME TO SOMEONE AS BRAVE AND COURAGIOUS AS ASH KETCHUM AND NOT DISPLAY THOSE SAME QUALITIES HIMSELF IN SOME POSITIVE MANNER? I oughta kill him here and now!

"How can you know that?" Ashura asked cautiously. "I was sure that…"

"Simple," Meowth interrupted him. "We were hiding in the bushes nearby when you pulled your little "Dark Heart Theft," as you call it, and traded faces with Tracey."

"He did WHAT?" Everyone else, excluding Ashura and the rest of Team Roc… er, Fission, screamed, Ash doing so through telepathy, and the Pokémon obvious using their own language.

"So, you know." He did not seem disturbed by the fact that he was ratted out. "Well I could easily cut you all to ribbons with this thing." He held his key-like weapon out in front of himself. He then suddenly stored it in its scabbard. "But, that's what I have the Heartless for."

"Heartless?" Cilan asked no one in particular. Ashura raised Tracey's hand skyward, and closed his eyes.

"I believe it is time for Clockspine to get a taste of blood," he calmly stated as he snapped his… Tracey's… his… oh, forget it… fingers, and then this horrid black creature emerged from this dark portal. It looked somewhat like a hedgehog, wearing these royal looking robes, adorned with this emblem that can only be described as a heart with a barbed cross over it. On its forehead were a number of quills that, as a result of their positions relative to each other, resembled the face of a clock. I guess that's why they call it Clockspine.

"Rip them asunder." Ashura ordered, and the monster prepared to do so.

"_Okay, Pikachu, I need you to battle this thing, but this time around, things will be different. This time, I will fight by your side, until the bitter end!" _Ash called out with telepathic vigor, summoning this giant key like what Ashura had, but with a completely different design.

"I wouldn't want things any other way, buddy." Pikachu responded, summoning his own key to use. "Hey, Misty, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Team Fission, you guys with us or what?" Everyone mentioned grinned supportively, in a clear answer "yes".

"Okay, Fraxure, Prepare for battle." Iris called to her already out Pokémon.

"Piplup, get ready!" Dawn called to her partner.

"Starmie, you're up!" I yelled as I let out my double starfish.

"Pansage, it's battle time!" I heard Cilan call out as this grass monkey thing was called from standby.

"Seviper, show no mercy!" Jessie commanded her snake.

"Ferrothorn, Show it who's boss!... I SAID IT, NOT ME!" James screamed when his iron plant clamped onto him in a familiar display of dangerous affection. (A/N: I'm sorry, you can't mess with a running gag!)

I could hear Ashura laughing hysterically at the embarrassing display James and his Ferrothorn were giving. "If this is the common thing with this guy, then he should be honored he gets to fight Clockspine at all. It will be a short battle in his case, but a battle nonetheless."

The talk was getting old, so I decided to just let it fly. "Starmie, use Power Gem!" Starmie began charging the attack, and promptly send a lovely stone of energy at the beast. Seconds before it was going to hit, its quills glowed a violet color, and then it was suddenly a full foot to the left of where it was standing a trillionth of a second ago, causing Starmie's attack to miss.

I only stared at the thing in surprise. "How did it move so quickly?" I asked no one in particular. _"Okay, speed won't matter with me and Pikachu attacking. You ready, my good friend?" _Ash asked the Pokémon-turned human.

"Ready as ever." He replied confidently. They both charged at the thing, Pikachu charging his weapon with electricity, Ash wrapping his in light. However, just as they were about to hit, Clockspine's quills glowed violet again, and it appeared directly behind them, resulting in them swiping at empty air. They quickly tried to attack at the monster behind them, but it swiped its claws at them, doing minor damage.

Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Jessie, and James all tried a simultaneous attack at Clockspine now, but again, with a glow of its quills, it appeared in a different place a millionth of a second before the attacks were meant to hit them. "Augh, why is it that this thing can move so fast?" Jessie screamed aloud. However, I noticed the pattern of the glowing quills, and found the answer to this question. "Wait, Clockspine isn't moving faster…" I said aloud. Everyone looked at me with an expression of concern. "…everything else is moving slower."  
>Ashura laughed heartily at this. "Give the lady a prize!" He said to no one. "Yes, Clockspine has the power to slow down the flow of time, allowing it to easily doge any attack you throw at it." He smiled evilly at this. "You have no hope of defeating this magnificent creature."<p>

"Don't count them out just yet!" Someone called out from above. Everyone looked up to see a slightly grey, anthropomorphic hedgehog with these five quills on his forehead that were so long they dropped down behind his head, a ragged mane like tuft of fur around his neck, tattered gloves and boots, unkempt fur, and this tattoo like mark on his chest that looked like an upside-down heart, splintered and incomplete. In his hand he held this giant key with a cyan shaft, this circle that acted as the teeth, this clock printed on the cross guard, a torrent of flames forming the hand guards, this chain made of gold rings, and a token that looked like a more lively version of his quills. (A/N: By the way, this character's keyblade is called Paradox #47. Those of you have decent knowledge of the periodic table should be able to locate a hidden joke in this name.)

Ashura seemed to recognize this figure, and Clockspine activated his time lapse powers, yet we did not see the new hedgehog land on solid ground, but him standing over a wounded Clockspine, which quickly recovered, and leaped away from the hedgehog. Ashura only stared at this.

"Impossible…" was all he could get out. "Tell me, Virxels, how is it that you were able to land a hit on Clockspine."

"You of all people should know the answer to that, Ashura." The hedgehog, apparently named Virxels, responded. "Clockspine and I were born from the same warrior. That gives me immunity to the former's powers." Ashura glared at Virxels for a long time before muttering something that sounded like "I hate you, Silver the Hedgehog."

"Sora and Sonic will be here in less than an hour, and you should know the poor soul whose body you stole is currently limping his way here as we speak." Ashura closed his eyes for a brief moment, then looked over his shoulder, as if to confirm something. Following his line of sight, I could see Tracey's Scizor supporting a battered looking green hedgehog with black streaks in his quills, but his shadow was that of Tracey Sketchit. He growled at the figure.

"I still have things to deal with," Ashura began. "but as long as that stupid Nobody is here, the others present will be unoccupied." He then seemed to remember something, and after waiting for Tracey (in his body, just a reminder), promptly snapped his fingers again, and these robots began falling into the field. "Ivo's creations should keep most of you busy." Most of us got ready to pound these piles of scrap metal into submission, but Ashura singled Ash out, saying that he will have, and I quote, "the pleasure of battling the skillful Master Xehanort," and then this white-haired guy appeared, and the new Keytus started the battle. I really did not get much of his battle, because I was staring down the robots.

"It feels like there will be no end to those things," I muttered under my breath.

"Hey, we can easily handle these guys, Misty," Dawn reassured me. "No need to worry."

But that's when people tend to worry the most.

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><p><strong>And we will end it here for now. Wow, this is a long chapter. Six clean pages of it. Now, review and vote on my poll, please!<strong>


	4. Power of the Keytus

**Hello again, my faithful readers. Or not so faithful, considering only one person reviewed the last chapter! At least SOMEONE likes my stories enough to favorite them. Anyway, this chapter is once again told from Ash's POV. Oh, and one more thing, I don't own Pokémon, Sonic the Hedgehog, or Kingdom Hearts, I own only Clockspine, Virxels, This version of Ashura, the keyblades you have never heard of, and Aaron Skyhart. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**Power of the Keytus**

I stared down with the white haired figure before me, the one Ashura called "Xehanort". Without the "X", that would be an anagram for "No Heart". I admit, he was intimidating, but I've faced worse during my journey up to this point.

I tightened my grip on my keyblade, and waited for him to make his move. He brought his sinister looking key into a downward slash, but I easily sidestepped the attack. Sadly, I still hadn't gotten used to having digitigrade feet, and stumbled at the end position. Xehanort took notice of this, and he smiled evilly at it.

"Only changed recently, have we?" he asked as if to taunt me for my lack of experience at controlling my own body. I sighed heavily, and got back up onto my feet.

I had to admit, things did not look good for me right then. What hope did I have at defeating this guy when I wasn't used to my own body? Well, I still had to give it a shot. I raised my blade in a defensive position, awaiting the attack. I saw Xehanort lift his keyblade to strike, but before I could position my own weapon to block it, this large black shadow emerged and struck for him. The blow sent me back three full meters, and I was already beginning to feel fatigued from the blow.

How the heck do my Pokémon battle for so long? I clearly need some training after this bout.

I glared at the guardian that had protected Xehanort, and getting back on my feet, I raised my blade, awaiting an attack. He suddenly charged at me, shrouded in this dark energy, but I was able to dodge it. He charged again, but still didn't land a hit on me. I swung my blade at him in a counterstrike, doing a little damage to him. He sent a counterattack, which I easily blocked and countered. We continued shadow boxing like this for what felt like three hours, but may have actually been thirty minutes.

I decided to start getting serious, but before I could launch an attack, a raging pain launched through my head, and local time space seemed to come to a standstill. I instantly knew what was happening. On the flight to Pallet, Iris had mentioned hearing that the Keytus line was capable of Precognition, and now I was experiencing that power first-hand. I closed my eyes against the pain, and allowed the vision to reveal itself.

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><p>The vision consisted of a black, anthropomorphic lion drifting through a dark void, apparently asleep. I could piece together that the lion was male because of a thick mane around its neck, granted a lot neater than Virxels's. The fur on his head was long a spikey, with the spikes always pointing out to the side. He was about the same height as me, around 5 feet tall, and was wearing this red open jacket, revealing a bare chest with this hideous permanent scar running across the upper half of his torso, partially hidden by his fur. Emblazed on the jacket's left breast was this black symbol that was incredibly difficult to describe, but at the center was a heart divided into three sections. The same symbol could be seen on the back of the jacket. The rest of his attire consisted of baggy yellow jeans, and brown leather boots. He looked around the same age as me, but as he had his eyes closed, I could not see what color they were. He seemed to radiate darkness.<p>

I watched the lion with an air of concern. Is this person to be a friend or foe? I finally heard him whisper something to the empty void.

"Why am I still alive?"

(A/N: This guy is going to play a key role in the next installment of the series. Whoever can correctly guess who the lion is wins a free spoiler! Here's a hint: the scar is from his final battle.)

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><p>The vision ended there, ejecting me back to my battle with Xehanort. Instantly regaining my composure, I leaned out of the way of a swipe from his keyblade. I then launched a full combo on him, knocking the dark master back a decent distance.<p>

To my slight discomfort, he laughed.

"You are a truly pathetic fighter," he taunted me.

"_Pathetic?"_ I asked skeptically. _"I'll give you PATHETIC!"_ Without even thinking about what I was doing, I leaped about 30 feet into the air, and pointed my keyblade skyward. I began to focus a strong light into the tip, and almost instantaneously, seven small orbs of light emerged from the ground around my relative location, and spiraled upward towards the tip of my weapon, where they merged into a a huge orb about one-tenth the size of the moon.

"_So this is Pure Seven,"_ I thought to myself. By now, Ashura had exited the lab, having retrieved the data he needed. I saw him run up to Xehanort's side, completely oblivious to the giant light ball I was about to throw at him. Xehanort, however, gave the orb his undivided attention.

"Xehanort, I got the map. Time to make our leave." HE then noticed that the dark master wasn't paying attention to him. Irritated, Ashura closed his eyes, and snapped his fingers, his body cloacked in a dark energy as he undid the Dark Heart Theft he performed with Tracey, returning to his own body. The scabbard holding his keyblade remained where it was, however, stating in Ashura's possession.

"Hey, Master Xehanort, it is time for you, me, and Ivo to proceed to the location of the Lightning Keystone." Again, he was completely ignored. He finally followed Xehanort's line of sight to my Pure Seven attack, which I then let fly. It slowly made its way down towards the evil duo, growing brighter as it approached its target. Strangely, the light didn't hurt my eyes. In fact, they seemed to be relaxed with the intense light.

"Aw, crap," was the only thing that left Ashura's mouth as the ball reached its target, and exploded upwards, sending a shower of beautiful, multi-colored sparks. I landed easily on my feet, and looked up at the enchanting display of color raining down from my attack. Virxels and Pikachu walked over to my side, and also began to admire the shower of color. Sadly, I could sense that Ashura and his lackeys survived the attack.

I heard the telltale signs of the group escaping via a dark corridor, but it didn't matter.

We won this round, and that was good enough for me. Although, I could not help but wonder who that black lion was.

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><p><strong>I suck at battle scenes. I really need someone who can beta read battle sequences for my story, so that this problem will not emerge again. Anyway, that is that for the fourth chapter, so submit your reviews, and your guesses to the identity of the black lion Ash saw in his vision.<strong>


	5. Crystal Madness

**Hello again, dear readers. Welcome to the fifth chapter to the second installment of the ever-popular Keystone Chronicles series. Here, we move to the POV of Aaron Skyhart, who accompanied Sonic and Sora on the journey to the Pokémon world. A new enemy is introduced, and a deeper side of the Crystal Keyblade is shown. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

**The Crystal Madness**

"So, he knows where to go now?" I asked Virxels on the other end of the telephone line.

"Yeah. The trainers and I will track him down to try and prevent him from getting it. How soon can the three of you get here?"

I glanced towards the captain's seat, where Sora was busy guiding the Gummi Ship through an unexpected pack of Heartless battleships. Out the window, I could see Sonic, in cobalt and yellow armor, weaving around the ships on his Keyblade Glider. (A/N: Just so you know, Sonic's glider is a board type, like Ven's)

"Another half hour at best."

"Great. That's just great. We'll try to do the best we can while you battle your way through the armada, alright?"

"Okay, try not to get killed out there." With that, I closed the line, and took another glance out the windshield of the ship.

Looks to me like the two have things under control.

I pulled the Master's report out of one of my pockets and flipped through the pages for a few seconds until my eyes caught a glimpse of the topic of a whole page.

"Crystal Madness…"

Quickly flipping to the page that concerned that subject, I instantly began reading, growing more concerned as I did.

Apparently, there is a consequence to seeking the power of the Crystal Keyblade. The heart is not meant to hold this variety of elements in such large quantities. As more keystones are restored to the crystal's power, the subject's mental stability gets worse and worse, eventually bringing him to insanity. This condition is called the Crystal Madness.

My mind began swimming around at hyper speeds at this. What if Ashura acquired the condition? Then we would be in real trouble. I returned to the reading, looking at the identification instructions. The listed symptoms included laughing for prolonged periods of time, mild headache, infrequent mood swings that become increasingly frequent as the condition worsens, loss of awareness, discarding of personal hygiene… gross… a tendency to perform embarrassing antics when no one is looking (as far as the subject knows), and an increase in polysexual mating habits.

What the hell does he mean by "polysexual mating habits"?

You know what; I probably don't want to know.

I had to tell someone about this. I glanced over at the command center again, but Sora and Sonic were still blasting through a hoard of enemy ships, and a distraction now could kill us all. However, I noticed that Sonic's attacks had become more stiff and automated, almost as if he were on auto-pilot.

With those two ruled out, I decided to call Virxels and tell him what I had just discovered. Dialing his number, I thought about the immense dangers the Crystal Madness posed to us. If Ashura lost his mind to it, he could easily use Kingdom Hearts to kill us all.

Well, with things slowly beginning to spiral out of control, I was hoping Virxels would be able to ease things somewhat. To my luck, he answered on the first ring.

"Calling back so soon, Aaron?" He answered. "Find something urgent in the report?"

"Yes. Something vital." I then outlined everything the report said about the Crystal Madness, Virxels listening silently on the other end.

"And what tells you that Ashura contracted the condition?" he finally spoke after I finished my spiel.

"Hm?"

"Because as far as I know, Ashura doesn't have any of the symptoms you listed. Well, except for the loss of awareness."

"I guess you're right. I may have just-"

"No, Ashura does have the Crystal Madness," Sonic suddenly interjected through the com-link in his helmet.

"What! How do you know?" I asked panickedly.

"Look out the window," I did so, and gulped at what I saw; a swarm of enemy ships marked with this emblem that seemed to represent a disassembling heart.

"What are those things!"

"Living craziness born from Ashura's dying hold on his sanity," Sonic answered. "An enigmatic entity warned me of them a few minutes ago. She said they were called…"

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><p><strong>And that's all for now. You'll find out what their called at the start of the next chapter. It'll give you something to look forward to. Now, submit your reviews, or suffer their fury.<strong>


	6. Decaying Trust

**Here we are again to Keystone Chronicles Book 2: The Keytus Gene. This chapter contains Eggman's POV. Oh, and these new enemies are copyright to me. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

**Decaying Trust**

"…Psychopaths?" I inquired of the green hedgehog I had somehow been talked into assisting. He, Xehanort, and I were then standing in an open field close to where this keystone was, examining one of these little monsters Ashura's fading mental health was spawning. The thing was orange, about half Tails' height, with creepy blank eyes and thick, clawed hands. The mark of its category was emblazed on its chest. While it seemed deadly, I noticed that all of its movements were twitchy and erratic.

"Yup. Beautiful, isn't it?" Ashura asked in what was supposed to be a rhetorical manner, but personally, actually needed some type of answer.

I'm starting to think that headache of his is several times worse than he's letting on.

See, I had looked over one of the copies of the Master's Report, and discovered the section on the Crystal Madness, finding that Ashura was displaying almost all of the symptoms. Especially what I am assuming to be the "polysexual mating habits" bit. Before we had arrived in this world, I had walked in on Ashura raping my effigy. I just hope we don't come to a world that has a few gay residents.

I returned my gaze to the common Psychopath at Ashura's side. This one was the most common Psychopath, and the weakest. I think he said it was called a Stroke or something. There were obviously larger and more powerful ones in existence, but personally, I don't think I can handle these things.

Here is a simple truth; the more Ashura's mental health deteriorates, the less I trust him. Of course, that trust was on thin ice to begin with.

Tell me, how the heck did he convince me to help him with this fantasy venture again? Oh yeah, he said he could help me eliminate that pesky hedgehog… now human. He also claimed he could rewrite time so that "Sonic the Hedgehog 06" had spent more time in development, which I did not believe. (A/N: tell me, do you think I'm breaking the fourth wall too many times?)

I had then realized that I was burying myself in my thoughts, and returned my attention to Ashura and his dying sanity. I swear, this green hedgehog is crazy.

"Let me tell you, with these beasties, we can acquire tis world's keystone with minimal difficulty," Ashura was saying, but I didn't think so.

After all, if the sky is involved for the battle for good, then it's only a matter of time before the land and sea follow suit.

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><p><strong>Due to writer's block, and an incredibly annoying parody plot bunny, I'll have to end this chapter here. Anyway, reviews requested.<strong>


	7. On Ethereal Wings

**Hello again dear readers. Hope you liked the sneak peek at the next installment. Anyway, here we flop over to the POV of Ash's Pikachu. On a side note before we begin, the said character will be referred to for the remainder of the series as "Alan Ketchum". Oh, and Brock will be making an appearance in this chapter, so here are his age and party:**

**Age: 24 Party: Toxicroak, Chancey, Steelix**

**Now, let's begin.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

**On Ethereal Wings**

I simply can't believe this. My trainer is now some overly-powered pseudo-legendary, I'm mostly human and have to use a new name to minimize suspicion, and now we have Ashura's diminishing sanity to worry about. Geez, my life just seems to get more messed up every day.

Virxels was told about these Psychopath things by a close friend, and the mere mention of that species name sent chills down my spine. He, Ash, Dawn, Misty, Team Fission, Iris, Cilan, Tracey (who by now had gotten his own body back, just a reminder), Escavalier (who decided to pass himself off as my Pokémon so he would be able to keep Iris's Accelgor safe, as he was the Shelmet that he had evolved with, which created a brotherly relationship between the two), and Brock (who had been raped by the green tyrant-to-be when he bumped into Ashura on his way home for a family reunion) were currently trudging through a vast, unexplored section of the Viridian Forest that even I didn't know about.

Virxels had explained everything to me and Ash; Heartless, Nobodies, keyblades, Master Sora, Xehanort, the three originals (A/N: that refers to Terra, Aqua, and Ventus), the Princesses of Heart, Kingdom Hearts, the thirteen keystones, pretty much the key plot of this thing. There were minor details he most likely left out, but it was likely nothing of consequence. I was still disturbed by the potential power this Crystal Keyblade had. Add that to the Crystal Madness, and Ashura is quickly becoming a deadly force to be reckoned with.

I was torn out of my thoughts by this twitchy noise behind me. Escavalier and I shot a quick glance behind ourselves to see this small, orange monster with blank eyes, and clawed hands. But that mark on its chest…

… It matches Virxels's description perfectly.

"GUYS! PSYCHOPATHS AT SIX O' CLOCK!" I yelled to the others as more of those creatures appeared next to the first one. They heard my warning and rushed to my side, Ash and Virxels summoning their keyblades while doing so. The Psychopaths all moved in this twitchy manner, which made their next move difficult to predict. As a result, they were able to land a few hits, but nothing life threatening.

I started using thunder magic (which I have a natural affinity for, by obvious methods) in large amounts, quickly eliminating the weaker Psychopaths, apparently called Strokes, while Ash utilized his Pure Seven on the stronger ones that started appearing.

These ones kept the mainly orange color scheme their weaker cousins held, with varying shades of grey thrown in there, were about as tall as Virxels, and had these huge, boxing-glove like hands, with the Psychopath mark visible on its knuckles and chest, the same blank eyes on its face. These ones were called Blunt Knockers.

The Blunt Knockers seemed to be a lot smarted then the Strokes, because they were able to dodge Ash's attacks, and swarmed him. I tried to help him out, but a few of the attacking Psychopaths broke away from the rest of the pack, and kept everyone else distracted while the others handled the big danger; Ash.

The other trainers were fighting the Psychopaths vigorously, Escavalier working in perfect synchronization with Iris's Accelgor. It was extremely difficult to give orders to Escavalier while also fighting my own battle, but I tried my best to lead him. I shot a glance at my master and saw him surrounded by Psychopaths.

He was staring unflinchingly at the swarm of enemies in front of him, his grip on his keyblade tightening with eagerness. The sun shone brightly throughout the area, and Ash suddenly started glowing like a…

Holy cow, he's actually evolving.

The glow completely hid his entire image, safe for his cap, and his body started shifting and elongating, until a few seconds later, and the transition from Keytus to Keyroku was complete.

There weren't many changes, except that he was about five or six inches taller, and his tail was a lot longer and had to be wrapped around his waist a couple times like a belt, with the original length still free. His muzzle was slightly longer now, and there were these rainbow colored wings of pure energy coming from his back. Lastly, he now had a second keyblade that used this Zekrom motif. Black Yin.

There appeared to have been some mental alterations that went with the evolution, because I could tell from his change of stance that he was more familiar with battling on his own, and with wielding two keyblades.

He sliced through several Blunt Knockers with his dual weapons like a knife through butter, but there were more of these creatures coming to replace the lost ones.

"Every moment we waste fighting these things brings Ashura closer to the Keystone!" I yelled in frustration.

"You, Ash, and Virxels go on ahead and stop him!" Brock hollered over the chaos of the battle. "We'll handle these guys."

I really didn't want to leave them alone against these monsters, but they can handle themselves. I believe in them.

"The fastest way we'll be able to catch up to Ashura is to travel by air," Ash logically noted, which would have been out of his character had he still been human. He tested his wings for a few minutes before finally lifting off the ground with a strong flap, and waited for Virxels and me to join him.

The albino hedgehog next to me levitated a few inches off the ground, and then threw his keyblade towards the sky. I watched in amazement as it exploded in a flash of light, and morphed into this plank-and-rudder type vehicle. (A/N: picture the yacht gears from the Sonic Riders series; Virxels/Silver's keyblade glider is like that) Without hesitation, he leapt onto the glider and raced to match Ash's altitude. Mimicking Virxels's actions, I threw my weapon skyward, where it too transformed into its vehicle form, though I noted that mine was more of a bike.

Joining up with the other two, I sped the glider towards the location of the Keystone of Lightning. I worried about the others fighting those Psychopaths by themselves, but I trusted that they knew what they were doing. What I didn't realize was that Ashura was going to have three other problems to deal with before he could leave the world with his prize.

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><p><strong>Sadly, because of a busy schedule, I'll have to end it here. Now, review, please.<strong>


	8. Land of Darkness, Sea of Light

**Here we are! The eighth and final chapter to the second installment to Keystone Chronicles! I'll have to end it here, or else the first chapter to the next installment will make no sense! Anyway, this chapter will hold Ashura's POV once again. I promise this will NOT become a regular thing! Now, let us begin.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

**Land of Darkness, Sea of Light**

You see? I told them the Psychopaths would be the perfect distractions. Now, I am free to acquire the Lightning Keystone hidden in this godforsaken forest. This is going to be far too easy… or so I thought.

I finally reached the Keystone hidden within the forest. It gave off a warming glow, and the interior showed a ring of lightning slowly rotating in position. Grinning like the lunatic I have become, I raised the Crystal Keyblade in front of the stone, but before it could reabsorb the power within it, a dark corridor opened within my peripheral vision, and I saw something fly out of it in my direction, which I dodged on instinct. I could make out two figures rushing out of the corridor, but I couldn't make out details because of the speed at which they were going.

They both stopped a small distance away from me, and I was able to discern some of their features. One was a white haired, teenaged boy; the other was a redheaded girl around the same age, maybe a year or two younger. They were both holding keyblades, although they obviously looked different. I instantly recognized both of them.

"I am honored that the two of you have decided to join the fight against me; Princess Kairi, Master Riku." (A/N: That's right, Riku passed the Exam too!)

All they did in reaction to this was turning their heads to glare at me in unison. All I did at their action was chuckle maliciously.

"So… You're Ashura, then." Riku finally said. "I felt your dark power, even from the islands. I could not allow you to achieve Kingdom Hearts."

"Then show me your heart's power." I responded.

All three of us entered battle ready stances, the look of intolerance present on our faces. I almost immediately shot a bolt of dark energy at the polar duo, though Riku was able to knock it aside. While he was distracted by that, I swiftly charged at him, and started swinging the crystal keyblade at him like crazy. After 20 blocked attacks, I charged the weapon with all of its current residual elements (so basically, light), but before I could launch the attack, a fire spell from Kairi struck me while I was focusing on the attack, and broke my concentration.

I turned my attention to the Princess of Heart, seeing her pointing her keyblade at me as of ready to fire another spell.

"I'll admit, I'm impressed with your magic abilities." I truthfully commented, before suddenly taking on an enraged tone. "BUT I AM NOT GOING TO STAND FOR ANY AMOUNT OF INTERFERENCE FROM ANYONE! ESPECIALLY A PRINCESS OF HEART LIKE YOU!"

Riku clearly gave me a look that insulted how sexist that last comment sounded, and Kairi chuckled quietly before she pulled a small bottle of… something… from her pocket.

"Uh… what the heck is that?" I asked her. "Some sort magic potion that is supposed to destroy anyone who has gone over the deep end and embodies the darkness too strongly?"

"No," Kairi answered. "It's something that will allow me to call forth an ally in a time of need."

I laughed at this response. "If that's the case, you better call help now, because you and the shadowy Master have zero chance at defeating me!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

With that, she removed the lid, and tossed the contents of the jar at me, but I was able to quickly sidestep out of its path.

I turned my attention to the projectile, and watched as a patch of grass behind me was immediately soaked in…

…ink?

She expected me to believe that she could conjure up her allies using ink? Is this a joke?

I turned back to the keybladers to find both of them launching a bolt of bipolarized magic in my direction. I say bipolarized because Riku supplied dark energies, while Ms. One-of-the-seven-purest-hearts-in-existence had contributed light. Without thinking, I generated a weak clone in this place, quickly fled to hide behind the keystone, and watched as the substitute was banished to oblivion by the opposing elements. It passed right over that ink puddle, which I noticed was bubbling a little.

Leaping at the opportunity, I pointed the crystal keyblade at the dang thing, and allowed it to reabsorb its energies. The beam of light shot into the stone, and within seconds, the stone was dead. The keyblade's chain glowed, and then revealed a path of lightning running along it.

I grinned evilly at this development, but I had ultimately given away my position to my opponents by doing this, so I instantly began to run from this place. I was about to enter a deeper part of the woods, but suddenly this huge field of blue energy exploded from the ground in front of me, cutting off my escape, and forcing me to stop dead in my tracks.

"What the..?"

"For those of evil Heart, there is no escaping the Memory's Cage." I heard an unfamiliar voice say from behind. I slowly turned around to see that ink puddle from earlier actually rising, molding itself into a humanoid shape. From what I could see, it was a girl emerging, judging from the emphasis on the hips and chest. It seemed to be holding a keyblade, but since this was nothing but ink, I could not make out details. The figure became more and more discernible as time went on, and eventually, the ink just exploded off to reveal a blonde haired girl in a white dress and sandals, standing with her right leg in front, and her left foot perpendicular to her right foot. In front of herself, she was holding a long keyblade. The shaft seemed to be formed from this huge pencil, with what looked like shreds of paper forming the teeth. The hand guards were formed from trails of ink, the chain was another jet of ink, with a tiny sketchbook as the token at the end. I heard someone whisper the name on the wind; Memorial Pen.

Although this new girl was unfamiliar to me, I could piece together who she was.

"So, you're Naminé."

She instantly opened her eyes, allowing the deep blue to penetrate my being.

"Correct. My name is Naminé, Nobody of a Princess of Heart. As long as I stand here, the cage will hold strong. You can't leave this place without a fight."

"Hmph. That can be arranged." Grinning maliciously at her, I raised my left hand to charge a strong electric charge into an attack to launch at all three of my oppressors. However, before I could launch it, I heard a dark corridor open behind me, and this flat projectile shot out of it, and easily sliced off my left arm from the elbow down. I screamed in pain as it landed feet away from me.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that's it for installment number two. To those of you who have read my sneak peek, you can probably guess what will happen next. See you then!<strong>


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